Educational Media Reviews Online

Thanks to newly declassified documents, this film reveals the intimate inner workings of the diplomacy and negotiation immediately following the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film centers on Soviet Politburo member Anastas Mikoyan, as he deftly challenges and assures both Castro and Kennedy, with much emphasis on the former. Castro was incensed that the Cuban government was not involved in the disarmament negotiations, and fiercely resisted any possibility of on-site US inspections, leading to a delicate tact by Mikoyan to accommodate the interests of the US, Cuba, and the USSR.

A History of an Assignment is quite literally a day-by-day, and often hour-by-hour, chronicle of the sensitive negotiations not long after the world was seemingly on the brink of nuclear conflict. Narration offers verbatim recitals of meetings, correspondences, and casual conversations, all laid over archival footage and photographs. All of this is interlaced with an appropriate amount of exposition to create context.

A History of an Assignment is an historian's delight. It is a well-paced, fascinating peak behind the curtain in this incredibly tense time. It is rigidly objective, resisting the temptation to inject any profundities, even in its epilogue. Not lost, however, is its recognition of the devotion and brilliance of Mikoyan. This is positively required viewing for anyone engaged by the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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